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Home for the holidays — that's sounding pretty good to pro hockey player Jesse Winchester these days.

“I guess that's one good thing about the (National Hockey League) lockout,” said Winchester, 29, a forward with the Ottawa Senators the past four seasons.

“I've never really had the chance (in recent years) to be home for Christmas, so this is nice.”

Winchester, of Long Sault, had a long travel day on Monday, returning to the Seaway Valley from Turku, a city of 180,000 on the southwest coast of Finland.

Winchester, for the past two months, has been playing with the TuTo team in the Finnish second division.

“It was a worthwhile experience, for sure,” said Winchester, an unrestricted free agent following the last NHL season.

With the lockout in place this season, Winchester late in the summer and into the fall was a frequent visitor to the Cornwall Civic Complex, staying in shape by skating at the River Kings' training camp, and with the Jr. A Colts, a team he became an assistant coach for in October.

Before long, though, and with the help of Cornwall native Matt Landry — now a lawyer working in the player agent field in Ottawa — Winchester landed an overseas hockey job in Finland.

Winchester had 11 points in 11 games, and TuTo is in second place in its 12-team division, but it'll likely have to go forward without its NHLer.

“I think there’s a pretty good chance (the NHL labour dispute will be settled),” Winchester said, indicating he also expects to sign with an NHL club to play in what’s salvaged from a 2012-13 campaign.

If the NHL season is cancelled, Winchester noted he could be headed back overseas, but hopefully with a more lucrative deal in a top European league.

Winchester had a tough season in the NHL in 2011-12, battling through concussion problems and playing in 32 games for the Senators, collecting two goals and six assists.

The former Jr. A Colts star has played in more than 200 NHL games, breaking into the league straight out of college, after his senior season at NCAA Division l Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, came to an end in the spring of 2008.

Winchester didn't take long to get back into the swing of things at home, participating in a Colts skate late on Tuesday afternoon.